So You Want to Be President?

Written
by Judith S. George Illustrated by David Small

Reviewed by Brandon A. (age 8) and Steven H. (age 9)

Being President is hard, but picture yourself as president and having your own swimming pool, movie theater, and bowling alley in your home! This is a book about past presidents and what their life was like while living in the White House. The book is hilarious and has a lot of outrageous and funny facts about the people who used to be President of the United States. All the presidents had very different personalities. For example, William McKinley was so nice that he tried to stop an angry mob from attacking the man that had just shot him. In the White House, Theodore Roosevelt practicly ran a zoo! He had dogs, cats, mice, rats, raccoons, 6 guinea pigs, and almost anything else you can imagine! He even had horses in the White House! Did you know that there were 6 presidents named James, 4 named John, 2 named Andrew, and 2 named Franklin?

Both Brandon and Steven like the part when William McKinley was so nice that he tried to save the man who shot him from being attacked by an angry mob. We liked the bowling alley idea so much that we hope to have one in our own houses someday. One of the disappointing things about being president is that you must wear a suit and dance every day. Lincoln couldn't dance because he didn't know how to and he had no one to dance with.

We recommend this book to readers who enjoy comical stories about history. If you want to know strange and funny things about our past presidents, read this book! If you like books that use comical cartoons as the illustrations, read this book.